Every now and then, the Haiku mailing lists explode with emails about something called the distribution guidelines. The Haiku guys set up a set of guidelines with regards to use of the Haiku trademarks and logos; the "Haiku" name may not be used in the distribution's name, official trademarks and logos must be excluded, but the Haiku icons and artwork may be used. In addition to these cosmetic and trademark issues, the guidelines explain what is needed in order to receive the official "Haiku compatible" logo.

There is PRE-ALPHA, ALPHA, BETA, RELEASE CANDIDATE (RC) & FINAL. Normally Pre-Alpha & Alpha software is mainly intended for developers/programmers to use and work with and NOT for the general public ( end users ). This is how Haiku Inc. prefers it also. Late Beta builds onwards are for everyone.

Now, speaking for myself, IF the software is *clearly* labeled as Pre-Alpha ( in the About Box & DESKTOP BACKGROUND IMAGE ) then I see no issue with Karl's release and with end users trying it out ( because they'd know what they're using ). After all, it is open source software and he is allowed to make his own distro of HAIKU.

Also, the issue of trademark is important. Haiku Inc. intends to release Haiku OS themselves. Karl can't have a version with included applications called HAIKU and Haiku Inc. come out with HAIKU that basically has the OS - It'd confuse users why there are two different versions of HAIKU. Since Karl made changes to HAIKU ( by adding programs ), then he was essentially creating a distro of it ( different from the original ). Any change(s) constitutes a new distro because it is not the same to the original HAIKU.

In addition, NOT using the HAIKU name is proper because Haiku Inc. intends to release the "Official" HAIKU OS 1.0 when it is ready. And, who wants a bunch of distros showing up with HAIKU in their name??? ie: HAIKU MAX, SUPER HAIKU, HAIKU EXTREME, SUPER DUPER HAIKU, etc. Only HAIKU Inc. should use HAIKU name for their release - trademark also says that HAIKU name belongs to HAIKU Inc.

I'm actually glad to see Karl make his distro and I'm sure others enjoy using it. So long as it's clearly labeled as Pre-Alpha then I won't have any issues with his distro and believe it may be a good thing for getting HAIKU out there - maybe too early, but still. Some fear that Karl's Senryu may be thought by non-Haiku users to be based off the FINAL version of HAIKU and give a BAD impression. That's why making sure that PRE-ALPHA stands out is very important. Haiku Inc should also clearly label "PRE-ALPHA" in HAIKU in the Boot Splash Screen, About Box & Desktop Background Image.